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Maps & Models: Road Maps

As the railroads diminished, one can observe the creation and expansion of the nation's highway system.

The following 3 maps demonstrate the improvement of roads and growth of highways over a 100 year period on Long Island, NY.

1911 Road Map of Long Island

Hammond's 1911 map, published a year after Penn Station's opening, demonstrates a lack of multi-lane arterial highways which would be built later in the century. Unpredictable road conditions are evidenced in the map's key, which differentiates between "Good Roads" and "Fair Roads."

By mid-century, the highway system has been built up and continues to grow. Long Island's main artery, the Long Island Expressway (at the time referred to as NY 24), only extends to Jericho, NY, although the eventual full route to Riverhead is mapped by a broken double line. It would be completed in 1972.